Crucial as it is, making the sale is the final point in the retail chain. Knowing what to buy – and buying at the right price – is the starting point.

As a core operational discipline, improved buying is likely to feature prominently on John Browett’s to-do list as he hunkers down to put DSGi back on track. DSGi’s growth drive of the past few years has turned it into a European market leader, but critics argue it has not yet reaped the buying benefits that greater scale should bring. That’s partly because, observers say, some of the big technology suppliers enjoy a relationship with electricals retailers of the sort that food suppliers once had with grocers.

To some extent, DSGi has not been able to exploit its scale because it operates in diverse countries where consumers demand locally recognised brands – such as Olivetti in Italy – that do not have the same resonance in all markets. And, partly, it’s simply because DSGi internationalised by acquisition and not all of the shared benefits that should come from a bigger group have been realised. Better buying may represent a relatively straightforward opportunity for Browett to make a difference.

There are also many thorny strategic questions. Expect to see exits from peripheral and underperforming overseas markets and a changing balance between store and online retailing. There has already been much speculation that DSGi will shut a swathe of shops but, at present, internal thinking is that there are more and new multichannel opportunities for stores, which are already important in the click-and-collect chain. That’s likely to mean extending higher-margin services such as Tech Guys.

Whatever happens, DSGi is likely to be one of the big running stories of this year. After the lengthy gardening leave imposed by Tesco before he was able to join DSGi, Browett may have found the business in a more parlous state than he expected. But if he can find a way of unpicking the Gordian knot, he should win himself a place in retail’s hall of fame.

Well done Woolies?

No profit warning at Woolworths, which many expected to be a Christmas loser. It looks as if it has traded its way through.

That doesn’t mean that its seasonal figures will be spectacular. Like Browett, Woolies’ Trevor Bish-Jones still has a long road to travel but the absence of a profit warning indicates he hasn’t stumbled during this difficult Christmas.

George MacDonald is deputy editor of Retail Week

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